Hands-on-Impressions: Killing Floor 2 – Return of the Patriarch – The King has Returned

Pros:
+Significant performance improvements
+New boss the Patriarch has returned with new capabilities
+New Gunslinger class welcomes in classic dual wielding pistols
+New playable character Oisten Jagerhorn is a delightful personality
+New dual wielded pistols are a blast to use

Cons:
-None that we can note

As you’ve seen in past articles, Killing Floor 2 has quickly become one of David and I’s favourite games to date on PC. For us this game offers up a delightful experience in coop and it doesn’t end there. Thanks to our friends over at Tripwire’s PR team, we’ve been able to go hands on with this game over the Thanksgiving Weekend with its latest content patch preview.

In it we did take note to several things that were an overall improvement to the experience. The micro-transaction DLC has been implemented into the menu, for players who wanted an easier to see and navigate menu were also given that, but also they were given the ability to optimize settings for Nvidia FLEX, which allowed for a more beautiful and gory time than before.

With all these vast improvements we’ve taken note that Tripwire has finally began to also take on the crowd like my dad that prefers to use a controller versus a mouse, something I myself have began to appreciate. With those little things aside, we get to take a new look at the upcoming content, which was more delightful than we had ever imagined.

“Return of the Patriarch” offers up several new things outside of technical things and appearance. First off we get to see two new maps such as Farmhouse and Black Forest, both of which are amazingly entertaining and creative. First off Farmhouse, which many will reflect upon a past Killing Floor map that introduced us to well, a boat house and a field full of zombies, this is much the same. This map does offer a diverse experience as players will take on the fight through a barn house, a cellar and even the farmhouse itself, which is two floors. Black Forest, however, is a step away from that as it is a rather large and forested area with a stream, cave, crashed experiment shuttle and well… Tons of Zeds who just want to maul you to death or cover you in hugs and kisses. That’s for you to decide, but I’ll go with the third option and go through them with dual wielded Desert Eagles as a Gunslinger. The Gunslinger offers a unique role to these maps and offers a wider variety from past classes. Something that is a very welcomed sight as we’ve spent quite a bit of time on this game in order to find each unique hidden token on the map. Plus, who doesn’t want to run around slinging guns like they were playing a western film? I know David and I did. It was spectacular needless to say.

One of the most unique things about this update isn’t just the fact they have introduced the return of The Patriarch, but they have changed him in ways that make him more challenging than before. Let alone has his weakness point changed he can stealth, rush players and even lure them in for a devastating attack that can seemingly be prevented as long as players attempt to stay back far enough from his brutal attack that will send players flying into a tree, stream or off a cliff if they aren’t careful.

If you’re wanting to know a bit about Oisten don’t be afraid. This character is vibrant in the sense his mouth is like a sailors. He’s not scared to trash talk and he loves to watch Zeds fall before him. Who doesn’t though? His customizations are quite simple, overall Oisten looks like he could be Casey Jones’ long lost brother-from-another-mother that doesn’t wield a hockey stick or a goalie mask. Instead? He’s just a badass with a few guns, flame throwers or what have you based on your class of choice.

While the Patriarch himself is quite challenging he adds in a new bit of situational awareness to the game compared to Hans Volter. Offering the challenge it does, Killing Floor 2 is a title that does not spare itself any shortage with this new content update as it seeks to bring the title closer to a full-fledged release title. While the game could use a few more maps, a few more bosses and even a few more guns, the game is very well fleshed out thanks to this upcoming update. We just hope to see more like it in the essence of challenge, improvements and overall content whether it’s free or paid DLC. This DLC is sure to bring players in for a lot more Zed killing and seems to almost give it a console feel thanks to the ease of movement with a controller.

Our preview is based upon the preview version that the publisher provided us with. For information about our ethics policy please clickhere.

About the Writer:

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.